Gambling tycoon to help fund H.K. bridge


Ho also backed the 10th-biggest tower in the world, which opened late last year in the gambling-rich city of Macau

HONG KONG, China -- Gambling tycoon Stanley Ho says he will help fund a controversial bridge linking Hong Kong to the mainland.

Hong Kong's government is mulling a proposal to build a HK$15 billion ($1.9 billion) bridge linking Hong Kong via Macau to Zhuhai, in southern Guangdong province.

The project's chief backer, Hopewell Holdings Chairman Sir Gordon Wu, says he is looking to raise private funds to build the 29-kilometer bridge.

Ho says he would back the project personally, rather than expose his publicly traded Shun Tak Holdings to potential losses.

Ho is executive chairman of Shun Tak, a gaming, shipping and property company that runs the TurboJet ferry service from Hong Kong to Macau.

"Shun Tak is a listed company. It has to be accountable to the shareholders," Ho said, according to the South China Morning Post. "Without complete information for the moment, it can't commit itself."

Investment undecided

Ho, who holds the monopoly on Macau gambling until two Las Vegas teams build casinos there, said he supports the bridge and would back it himself. (Story on end of monopoly)

Zhuhai is immediately across the border from Macau, a former Portuguese colony and now, like Hong Kong, an administrative region of China.

But Ho has not yet decided how much he would invest. He said that would depend on the government's backing and the state of the economy, according to the SCMP.

Wu has criticized the government for dragging its heels on the bridge, which has been under discussion for a decade.

He has reportedly also approached the Kwok brothers' Sun Hung Kai Properties development company and an unspecified bank to solicit funds.

A divisive issue

The bridge proposal is a divisive issue in Hong Kong, which has one of the biggest deep-water ports in the world but has been losing business to ports in mainland China.

Wheelock Chairman Peter Woo said this week that he does not believe the bridge should be built with government money and that Hong Kong infrastructure projects should support themselves.

Wheelock's Wharf subsidiary owns port terminals through Modern Terminals Ltd. that stand to lose out from a bridge.

MTL is a member of the Hong Kong Container Terminal Operators Association, which took out a newspaper ad this week to oppose the bridge if it leads to the construction of new terminals near the road.

Shippers support project

Canning Fok, managing director of Hutchison Whampoa, the world's largest port operator, has come out against the project if government subsidies are used.

But the bridge's backers say it would help Hong Kong tap mainland China's runaway growth and cut the cost of shipping in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Shippers Council, which represents importers and exporters, took out a newspaper advertisement this week in support of the project.

The shippers say a bridge would reduce Hong Kong's port fees, which they say are some of the highest in the world.